“Her First Punch was a Forest Fire!” (Jean Grey #10 Review)

There’s still one more issue! Jean Grey’s solo series ends next month with issue #11 but we get a huge tease as this issue sort of reads like a finale. It’s like the first episode of a major two part finale. There was so much tension and passion that never let up. Until the end there wasn’t a single moment that lacked a fiery intensity.

What you missed:

Young Jean Grey has spent the entirety of her series training in preparation to face off against the Phoenix Force, also known as her destiny. At the end of last issue, the moment we’d been dreading/pleading for arrived, the Phoenix came to Earth. This is the moment that makes or breaks the first daughter of the X-Men. Luckily, she has help from several former Phoenix hosts, including the spirit of the late, adult Jean Grey. Freaky, right?

Summary:

It’s a non-stop psychic firefight. The cosmic Phoenix Force is unleashing hell on the backwoods of snowy north while Young Jean and her psychic compatriots wage war against the cosmic god. Any more details and I’ll ruin what I believe is one of the best issue endings in the series.

I saw the end of the this issue coming, but I also didn’t see it coming. Dennis Hopeless’s penultimate chapter to Jean’s first solo series pulls out all the stops and leaves you with a gut wrenching punch. A punch in the form of a final splash page just sits in the pit of your stomach and burns. Excuse the cliché, but I have no doubt Hopeless plans to go out in a blaze of glory next issue.
Jean’s interaction with Hope Summers was a major highlight of the issue. Hope knows what it’s like to carry the burden of being the prophesied host of the Phoenix. Out of all the characters aiding Young Jean, Hope can relate the most. Hopeless does a great job of showing the girls’ bond as Hope leads the charge!
Alburquerque’s art is good, not necessarily great. The Phoenix is beautiful, as it should be, and I think the action is clean and enthralling. The characters are easily identifiable, which can be hard to do when you have three psychic redheads running around. (Four if you count the Cuckoo whose name I couldn’t guess.)
However, there are a few close ups that sort of border on caricature. It’s something about the way he draws their eyes that I’m just not fond of. Regardless, it doesn’t really detract from the action since most of the panels consist of wide-shots.

Jean Grey fanboys and fangirls sobbed with joy when Phoenix: Resurrection was announced. It’s likely that we were all reading this series already so we could infer that Jean’s solo series would tie into the return of her adult counterpart. This issue leaves us with so many questions as to how these events will play into the Return of Jean Grey. But we know that with the Phoenix, death is just another stepping stone towards something grander and she will rise again.